Scrimmage Thumbs-Up/Thumbs-Down

Here are some of my impressions of the scrimmage against the Bills after watching it on FOX 11 tonight. Additions and corrections are welcome as always.

Thumbs-Up:

1. Colin Cole--Was a real force in the middle. Had the most impressive game of any Packer. He could be our next nose tackle.

2. Antonio Chatman--Appears to already own the punt return job, considering that nobody else was even tried tonight, and his first return was very good. As a receiver, he struggled to get open at times and dropped one pass, but also had some nice catches and is way, way ahead in the race for the #4 receiver spot.

3. B.J. Sander--His first punt was a beauty: 47 yards with excellent hang time. His next one was mediocre: 33 yards, caught at the 12 yard line and returnable. It's true that a 45 yarder would've gone into the end zone, but a punt that's caught at the 12 and returnable is really no better than a touchback. Still, that first punt was important, and he nailed it. No shanks, no jitters. I'm cautiously optimistic.

4. Ben Steele--Dropped his first pass, which was not an easy catch but should've been caught. Then he made a nice diving grab for a TD and another routine catch for a TD. This is just what he needed for his confidence. Were you watching, Bubba?

5. Aaron Rodgers--Looked sharp early, even though his receivers dropped two passes. Then the protection broke down and he didn't have a chance to do much more.

6. Na'ill Diggs--A couple of nice tackles in the backfield.

Thumbs-Down:

1. Ahmad Carroll--Still grabby in coverage on one play and got flattened by a McGahee stiffarm on another.

2. Najeh Davenport--Ten pounds lighter this season but didn't look any quicker and got stopped cold by tacklers. One of them was a cornerback, and he hit Davenport hard enough to knock him out of the game. Embarrassing.

3. Offensive line--Looked terrible after the first couple series. Buffalo was running way more blitzes than one would expect in a scrimmage, so I have to cut the O-line some slack. Still, they were getting beaten in a lot of one-on-one situations.

4. Sterling Sharpe--It was good to see him back in Green Bay, at least until he opened his mouth. He had almost nothing good to say about the Packers, but he perked right up any time he started talking about the Bills. Don't come back, Sterling.

Incomplete:

Craig Nall--Had no protection and no open receivers, and therefore no chance to show his skills. As long as Rodgers plays decently and Nall does nothing to put himself well ahead of Rodgers, Nall is more and more in danger of dropping to #3 or even being cut.

OVERALL: Thumbs-Down. The Bills looked more talented and more together as a team. It was just a scrimmage, of course, but I was hoping it would at least look like an even match. There is lots of work to be done.

and THANK YOU for the sharpe comment. that is why i just came on here. what a dick. he couldn't give the packers credit for anything positive. why do i have that jersey hanging on my wall??? he sits back and acts like GB can't possibly be successful without him. what a joke.

Or how about when Johnny Gray mentioned that Robert Ferguson hopes to make the Pro Bowl, and Sharpe, who was on-camera sitting next to Gray, was very obviously SIGHING AND ROLLING HIS EYES to let us all know that the thought it was a ridiculous idea? That was disgusting. Johnny Gray played nice with Sterling and stroked his ego, but I think he picked up on the bad vibes, and my guess is that ol' Sterling won't be invited back for any more Family Nights.

I heard Hawkins played good, not giving up any receptions. From what people are saying on how Carroll isn't where he should be at this point, its good to know Hawkins is stepping up. Can't wait to see this kid in a game I can actually watch on TV.

I thought Colin Cole looked really good. I was hoping the Bates system would have looked more prepared, but other than a couple of nice plays from Digg's the linebackers looked like they did last year. They couldn't fight off blocks and didn't stuff anyone. Carroll didn't show me any improvment.

It is fun to watch and see how the team will evolve. I'm not sure how much talent we have, but it's going to be fun to see how effective our coaching and teaching will be this season. I think Sherm has hired some quality coaches. Let's see if they get better.

Sterling Sharpe--It was good to see him back in Green Bay, at least until he opened his mouth. He had almost nothing good to say about the Packers, but he perked right up any time he started talking about the Bills. Don't come back, Sterling.

Craig Nall--Had no protection and no open receivers, and therefore no chance to show his skills.

Click to expand...

I guess you want Sterling Sharpe to lie about the Packers and say everything looks fine.

The Packer WR's had trouble getting open against the superior Bills DB's.

[quote="Greg C.":inu9pvu9] Sterling Sharpe--It was good to see him back in Green Bay, at least until he opened his mouth. He had almost nothing good to say about the Packers, but he perked right up any time he started talking about the Bills. Don't come back, Sterling.

Craig Nall--Had no protection and no open receivers, and therefore no chance to show his skills.

Click to expand...

I guess you want Sterling Sharpe to lie about the Packers and say everything looks fine.

The Packer WR's had trouble getting open against the superior Bills DB's.[/quote:inu9pvu9]

thats what i was thinking. what did people expect him to say? there wasn't cause for a whole lot of praise out there.

by the way, on the NFL network show "Playbook" Sharpe has no qualms about calling the Pack organization 'the best franchise in all of football. hes a critical guy, but i think hes just calling it like he sees it.

arrow: It's true that the Packers didn't give Sharpe much reason for positive comments, but his negativity started before the game. I think he's still bitter about the way his career ended, and the team's success after he left. He needs to chill out.

the way i see it, Sharpe is a loud, no nonsense type of guy. we played like crap out there and he happened to be commentating. i think my comments would've been along the same lines as his..except with more yelling. hehehe..thats why i cant fault him for his criticisms.

arrow: Sorry for my lateness in replying to your question about Sharpe. I didn't log in yesterday, and now the subject is getting a little old, but I hate to leave it hanging out there.

I was glad to see Sharpe back in Green Bay, and at first I liked it that we had an announcer who was not going to sugar-coat everything. But Sharpe's putdown of Ferguson (which I mentioned above) really soured me on him. (Why did Sharpe go after Ferguson? Could it be that it's because Ferguson is sometimes compared to Sharpe for his style of play?)

But I digress. It really wasn't anything particular that Sharpe said during the game, it was more a cumulative thing. He lectured way too much and took the scrimmage way too seriously. He would point out picky little things that the Packers did wrong (e.g., B.J. Sander holding the ball with the laces to the side, even though the field goal went right down the middle) but had nothing but praise for the Bills.

Another thing that bugged me was when he ripped on a Packer receiver for not catching a long pass by Rodgers that was badly underthrown, taking the opportunity to lecture us on how when he was a player he would tell Brett Favre to just throw the ball somewhere in the area and he would make the play. I get sick of all of Sharpe's self-serving B.S.

I'm not denying Sharpe's greatness as a player. If it wasn't for his injury, he may have been the best player in the history of the NFL. Here's how I figure it: A lot of people consider Jerry Rice to be the best player in the history of the NFL. And Sterling Sharpe was just as good as Rice, maybe even better. I can't imagine how disappointing it must have been for him to see his career end early, then for his team to win a Super Bowl a couple years later, and even more frustrating, watching his own brother go on to a long, record-setting career.

I like Sharpe as a player, but I am confident if he would have stayed Brett would not have turned into the QB we know him to be. Brett has admitted while he had Sharpe he had a bad case of tunnel vision.